Wednesday, 6 August 2014

An Interview With...Illustrator Des Hanley

If you've been involved in the Games Workshop hobby for any length of time, you can't fail to be impressed from the lush and plentiful illustrations littered across their publications. From the early days in the 1980s, through to the present time, GW has literally published thousands of wonderful pieces of artwork in rulebooks, sourcebooks and novels. Each piece adds to the atmosphere of GW's fantasy worlds, and many are instantly unforgettable.

40k Chaos 'Abaddon & Cypher' (Des Hanley)

Des Hanley is one of the illustrators who responsible for some of this output. Working as an illustrator for GW from Oct 95 to Feb 1999, he worked on a wide range of projects, including Warhammer army books, Warhammer 40,000 codicies and the Battle Fleet Gothic game. Des has been kind enough to subject himself to being interviewed on his career in illustration and time working for GW.

axiom: Des, you're now a well-recognised illustrator, but how did you first start out putting pen to paper?

DH: "I'm afraid I was one of those kids that was always doing
art related things, I use to draw on any spare bit of paper and occasional flat
surfaces (like my bedroom walls). It's just something I've always done, though
I didn't make it a career choice until I was in my mid 20's."

* * *

axiom: In your
early days were there any fantasy artists or illustrators who really influenced
your work, or did inspiration come from film / tv / books?

DH: "I remember being hooked on the Lord of the Rings animated
movie, so that had a big influence on me. Not to mention all the really cool TV
shows of the 80's.

We started getting 2000AD every week, the glories of Ezquerra,
McMahon, Bolland, Kennedy (and all the rest) were laid before me, this must
have been around 79', 80' ish. So they had a HUGE influence on me, not in art
style perhaps but in dynamics and mental story telling. I could quite happily
spend days rereading them.

I was gifted a D&D basic set (Erol Otus cover), which nobody
wanting to play, I just read the rules and gazed at the art, that set the ball
rolling.

D&D Basic set published in 1981 by TSR. Cover by Erol Otus.

Later it was RPG's so that meant White Dwarf (pre #100) and then
all the GW games (Golden Heroes to Rogue Trader)

Having adored Paul Bonner and Adrian Smith's work in print, it was
fantastic to see some in the flesh at GW.

So basically I was raised (art wise) by the genre I work in.

* * *

axiom: When and how did you end up working at Games Workshop? Do you remember what your first project was?

DH: "I was a part time staff member at GW Leicester. I did bits of art for the store and I was lucky enough that our regional manager offered to take my portfolio to the studio.

I did several trial pieces (never printed) but I think the first bit I did were (I shudder when I look at them) either Tyrannids or Imperial Guard or maybe Ultramarines (all 2nd edition)?"

* * *

axiom: Most people will be most familiar with your illustrations on projects such as Warhammer army books (including Chaos & Wood Elves), 40k codices (Eldar, Dark Eldar, Chaos). Did you have any particular project(s) you enjoyed working on?

DH: "

To be fair I was a big GW fan when I started working at the design studio, so getting to draw Space marines or Wood elves was great fun, and working on new products was fantastic.

Warhammer 40k 'Chaos Space Marine'

Anytime I got to leave my mark on a project and have it still going today is fantastic, even when I can see the new extrapolations from that.

Warhammer 40k 'Eldar Aspect Warriors'

It was also nice when artwork influenced a miniature (that started my concepting career right there), it's nice when there was an interplay between sculptors and artists.

Warhammer Beasts of Chaos 'Gorthor'

Personal favourites would be the Necromunda guns, WHFB Chaos and oddly Battlefleet Gothic (I'm not keen on straight line stuff (that's vehicles and spaceships))."

Warhammer 40k 'Tzeentch Sorcerer'

* * *

axiom:

You were involved in the illustrations for Battlefleet Gothic,
a re-working of the ill-fated Spacefleet game. Tony Hough has recently lamented
the fact that his 30+ illustrations for Spacefleet were never published - did
you start from a clean slate or were you influenced by the earlier
illustrations?

Spacefleet 'Imperial Bridge (Tony Hough)

DH: "Alas Tony's stuff was never brought up, it was all from scratch (a few bits were mentioned but we (the artists) didn't have any say on the art in the books)."

﻿﻿﻿

BFG 'Damage Control'

﻿

BFG untitled

﻿

BFG 'Chaos Rockets'

* * *﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

﻿

﻿axiom: There's
a wide variety in mood with your GW illustrations, from the clean pencil
drawings of the Wood Elves to the moody and gritty Warhammer Siege and Dark Eldar
illustrations. Was this down to subject matter, or did your style evolve over
time?

﻿

Warhammer 'Wood Elf Warhawk'

DH: "Well, I always view the scene like watching a movie, I have
to pause it (mentally) and then try and draw it (it was never successful, I'd
be lucky to get 80% of what I saw in my head onto paper). This has to balance
with being a commercial illustrator over being an artist.

Warhammer 'Chaos Battle Line'

You have to turn out product asap. Admittedly I was more the
artist than a commercial illustrator.

So you have to adapt your style as you go."

* * *

axiom: Could you give us an insight into how producing artwork for GW actually
took place? Was it as open and free-flowing during your stint as it appeared to
be in the late 1980s, or had things become more regimented?

DH: "It started reasonably open (within limits, you had a brief
and a size) but later became very regimented and very, very…odd! (let's leave
it as that).

Luckily I've not encountered that 'style' of management with any
other company (thank god!) Perhaps it was just me…"

* * *

axiom: Looking back, do you feel your work at GW has benefited you in your career?

DH: "Working at GW opened many doors, and still does. Though it's
always a little disturbing when people say they grew up looking at your
art…makes you feel old."

* * *

axiom: Many GW
artists have struggled to regain their work (there's even stories of artwork by
Gary Chalk being skipped!). What was your experience?

DH: "I got lucky when I left that I took mine with me (I think
they agreed to get me out of the building quicker). I'm sure they did want to
return the art but then changed their minds in the end, I'm not sure as I'd
left by then. I'm assuming the sudden flood of GW original art for sale didn't
help."

* * *

axiom: Since
leaving GW you have worked for a wide-range of companies; what sort of projects
have you been invoved with?

DH: "I made a choice to cut back on illustration and do miniature concepts instead. So I've probably concepted some miniatures you have in your collections. From Wizard's through to Mierce miniature. Though there's a lot of work invested in the 'Wargods' line, hopefully you'll see that in the future…"

Vampire - Avatars of War

Pi-Rat - Dark Sword Miniatures

Beowa - Mierce Miniatures

* * *

axiom: Finally, if you could identify one favourite piece that you produced while at GW, which would it be?

DH: "Probably some of the WHFB Chaos illustrations, the Lord of Change springs to mind."

Warhammer Chaos 'Lord of Change'

Warhammer Chaos 'Lord of Change Head'

* * *

Many thanks to Des for taking the time to answer my questions. I hope you've enjoyed reading Des' thoughts and looking at his fantastic artwork again. I find it frightening to realise that some of Des' earliest pieces are coming up to being 20 years old!

4 comments:

I really enjoyed reading that. Des work is very evocative of WH40K 3rd edition to me, which although possibly something of an impolite topic in Oldhammer circles, is the version that I have the fondest memories of gaming with. My Des Hanley illustration filled Chaos Codex is very worn from use.

The Battlefleet Gothic images are very memorable too. The book was landscape rather than portrait (or whatever the appropriate terms in the printing trade are) as a deliberate effort to make the imagery panoramic. I think that it worked very well, as can be seen in the examples above.

Des work has a lovely style to it, its a treat to read an interview like this.

Glad you enjoyed the intervew - Des produced some really iconic work during GW's difficult 'transition period'. I love the way his later pieces became looser and more atmospheric (BFG for example). And good fantasy/sci-fi art should be enjoyed, whatever book it was published in :)

About Me

I've been gaming since the late 1980s - I tend to get distracted and jump from one project to another. The one constant is that I love the character of Citadel miniatures of the late 1980s and early 1990s - Warhammer, Blood Bowl, Rogue Trader.